


Come Sail Away With Me

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, Gen, post Hell Bent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-05 05:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5362862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS FOR HELL BENT. Two women in a diner, and what happens after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Fight you for her._

If Clara was honest with herself, this situation had been what she had had in mind back then, even if it had been a silly fantasy. She still wondered if it was real, sometimes. Ashildr – no, _Me_ – accompanied her in the TARDIS, and they had all the time in the world together.

Well, not all the time in the world. But close enough.

She still missed the Doctor, of course. Turning her back and leaving him alone in the desert had been immensely painful, but now that she was out in space where she belonged, the pain had lessened a bit. She could bear it, though. The important thing was that the Doctor wasn't in pain, and she knew he would go on to do greater things, now that he wasn't saddled with grief.

“Are you going to be this quiet the whole time?” Me's voice broke Clara out of her reverie, and Clara looked up from the console, having been staring into the center. She supposed broodiness was another habit she had picked up from the Doctor. At least she was in character.

“Sorry, I was just thinking.” Clara leaned back up to walk around the TARDIS console, not quite meeting Me's gaze. She was glad to have the other woman traveling with her, but things had changed so much in the course of having known each other, and she wasn't quite used to this version of Me yet. She found herself a little on guard around her, and she hoped that would go away once they had gotten to know each other a little better.

“He'll be fine.” Me set her hand gently on Clara's shoulder briefly, and Clara blinked, surprised at the physical contact. She couldn't remember if Me had been touchy or not when they had first met. Hell, _Me_ probably couldn't remember either. Ashildr wasn't there anymore, and every couple thousand years, Me was essentially a blank slate. Clara wondered if that would happen to her, too.

_I'm Clara Oswald. If I lose my name, what's left of me?_

“I know he will. But it's still so fresh, that's all.” When Me removed her hand, Clara stepped forward, working the TARDIS console to send them somewhere. They had been floating in space for a while now, and she wanted to take Me somewhere interesting, as she imagined this was pretty boring so far.

“I'll be honest with you. I'm not nearly as good as the Doctor at flying this thing, and if we want to go somewhere, we might end up getting sent somewhere completely different. Is that okay with you?” Landing in Nevada had been a complete happenstance, and Clara had been lucky they were even able to land at all, with the Doctor incapacitated. She was determined to get better, but that would take practice.

Me grinned at her words, and Clara felt her heart jump a little to see the other woman's smile. Even after everything that had happened, Clara's opinion that Me was very easy on the eyes hadn't changed at all.

“It's more fun that way, isn't it? And I can't imagine the Doctor lands perfectly every time, either. So I think you're in the clear.” Me put her hand over Clara's, shifting a lever forward to send the TARDIS to its destination. “Wherever we're going, I hope it's nice.”

Me's hand lingered on Clara's a little too long, and she only lifted it when the TARDIS landed, its characteristic groan sounding through the room. Clara led Me out of TARDIS – well, at least, she tried. When she opened the door, water rushed through and knocked them both backward, sending them spiraling back into the console. Clara swore when she felt herself hit the hard metal, and she scrambled for the controls.

“Okay. _Not here_!” Clara's speech was garbled by the sound of the water, and she took a deep breath before she dove under the quickly rising water. It became apparent to her that she actually didn't need to breathe, and for a moment, she wanted to stop and just watch the TARDIS fill with water, to experience lingering underwater for as long as she liked.

The matter of Me snapped her back to reality, though. Me was functionally immortal, barring accidents, according to the Doctor, and drowning would certainly be an accident.

So Clara swam down to the console, working to get the TARDIS moving again. She caught a glimpse of Me out of the corner of her eye, the woman looking uncharacteristically undignified with a crab tangled in her hair. She tore her eyes away from the amusing image, because Me was giving her the glare of a lifetime, and as a few more levers were pulled, the TARDIS materialized into space instead. The water poured out the door, leaving a sopping wet Clara and Me in its wake.

Me watched as the water flowed out in an odd, glob-like shape, seemingly entranced by the sight. Then the crab clamped its claw around her ear, and she let out an Ashildr-like howl of annoyance as she tore the crab out of her hair and threw it into space. Clara had to laugh, and Me's subsequent glare didn't stop her. She could see the Viking girl she had once known in Me's face for just a moment, and she wondered if Me would ever take that name again.

“Well done, Doctor Oswald.” Me was trying to sound angry, but there was a hint of laughter in her voice, and before they knew it, both of them were on the floor laughing, laying in the puddle of leftover sea water. Before long, though, the water started to freeze, cold leaking in from the door into space. Clara pushed herself up to close the door, rubbing her arms to stop herself from shivering.

“I should probably look at the scanner or something before I open the door. Yeah.” Clara stared down at the controls, not sure if she wanted to try again right away. The Doctor's TARDIS had known her, and had probably assisted psychically in getting her to places she wanted to go, but this was a new TARDIS. Just like Me, she had to get to know her too.

“Yes, you'd think,” Me said, a note of amusement in her voice. “You owe me somewhere really good next time. That crab took out a chunk of my hair, I think.”

“I'm sure it'll grow back. We have all the time in the world, don't we?” They both knew they didn't, but Clara felt like she needed to convince herself. She had prepared herself to face her death on Trap Street, but now that she had been torn away from it, she felt utterly unprepared to try and face it again. She understood now why the Doctor spent his entire life running.

Me merely gave her a knowing look, but didn't answer her out loud. Me was infuriatingly wise sometimes, and that was going to be another thing Clara would have to get used to. It was easy to forget how old Me really was, until she gave her that smile, the one that looked somehow ancient.

“...Anyway.” Clara broke the silence, uncomfortable with thinking about her unavoidable mortality for too long. Suddenly, trying to travel again seemed much more appealing than staying in the TARDIS and thinking too much. “Shall we try again?”

Me grinned, and Clara felt the tension dissipate. For now, at least.

“Let's.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

As they got into the full swing of their travels together, it struck Me how _cautious_ Clara was being. From what she remembered of the other woman, Clara Oswald had always had a reckless streak, and it seemed strange to see it gone now. Perhaps her eventual death had sobered her, and she understood consequences better now.

Me didn't want to think about that moment, though. Clara would end, eventually, and she would not. It comforted her to know that once Clara was gone, she would still have the TARDIS. She couldn't imagine just giving up with her tail between her legs and letting the Time Lords have it back. That would be incredibly embarrassing, and then what would she do with herself?

Today, though, she wasn't going to think about that. She and Clara were busy exploring, and she fully intended on enjoying it. Her ability to enjoy things was more than a little rusty by this point in her life, but she could feel the gears creaking again, and she hoped they would begin to move smoothly eventually. After all, she and Clara had as long as they wanted, technically, and she wanted to enjoy it as much as she could. Clara was lovely and extraordinary, and she was beginning to awaken Me's ability to feel again.

“So what exactly are we looking for, again?” Me asked, walking alongside Clara through a thick grass meadow.

“I don't know,” Clara said cheerily. “Whatever we happen to find! Isn't it enough that this is an alien planet? Hell, I don't even know what planet this is.”

“As long as it's not Gallifrey,” Me said, giving her a knowing look. Clara pointed at the sky.

“The sky is purple, see? Gallifrey's sky is orange. Nothing to worry about.” Clara continued through the grass, and Me tried to lose herself a little in the expanse of nature that surrounded them. _It reminds me of home._ The thought appeared in her head before she realized it, and she frowned slightly. Clara told her she had been Ashildr, long ago, but she didn't think there were any memories of that left. And she certainly didn't have a home.

As they walked, Me began to get the distinct sense that someone was following them. Whenever she looked back, however, there was no one in sight. Maybe this planet had conscious grass stalks or something. She certainly hoped that wasn't the case, though, because she was crushing multitudes of them with her feet as she walked. Clara didn't seem to be bothered, though, so Me chalked it up to the amount of paranoia that might accumulate after billions of years of being alive.

Me zoned out so much that the touch of Clara's hand jolted her back to reality, and she blinked, looking down to see that Clara had linked their hands. That seemed to be another Doctor-like habit she had picked up. This one, though, Me decided she didn't mind so much. Clara looked up at her, slight embarrassment evident in her features.

“This is okay, right?” She asked. “I got so used to doing this with the Doctor, that I didn't think that you might not want it.” Me considered a moment, and then nodded, giving Clara a faint smile.

“This is definitely okay,” Me said. “I suppose it's more efficient, too. If you or I get dragged off by a monster, the other one of us won't get lost!” She laughed a little at the idea, too old to be scared of that sort of thing by now, and Clara gave her a slightly baffled look.

“If you say so.” There was amusement in her face, though, and to Me's surprise, Clara gave her hand a squeeze. They continued through the grass like that, and Me felt the metaphorical gears within her grow just a little less stiff. Clara was the closest thing to forever she could have, and she was grateful to be holding the hand of someone so pretty.

The feeling of being watched hadn't gone away, though, and it was starting to make the hairs on the back of Me's neck stand up. When she looked behind her again, Clara saw her this time, and she gave her a quizzical look.

“Something wrong?”

“I feel like we've been watched all this time, that's all. But I don't see anyone.” Me knew she probably sounded overly paranoid, but Clara had asked. Clara stopped them both and took a good look around. She frowned and shook her head.

“I don't see anyone either. But that doesn't mean they're not there.” Clara suddenly looked horrified. “God, I hope we haven't wandered into a field of Vashta Nerada or something. The Doctor told me about those, maybe they're hiding under the grass blades.” She shook her head again. “No, they would have eaten our legs off by now. Never mind.” Me recoiled, more than a little disgusted. She was glad that in her billions of years of existing, that that species was something she had missed out on.

“That's...comforting, I suppose. But I don't think we should rule out that there's _something_ out there,” Me said, and Clara nodded.

“That's sensible.” She frowned again for a moment, considering something. “Maybe we should get back to the TARDIS and pick somewhere else. Now that you brought that up, I'm a little creeped out.” There was that caution again. Me found it very peculiar. The Clara she knew would have charged right in, and she wouldn't have suggested returning. Whatever was left of Ashildr within her didn't want to leave, either, now that she thought of it.

“Are you sure? I thought this was the sort of stuff the Doctor loves to investigate.” _And you want to be like him, don't you?_

Clara considered this, a bittersweet look on her face as she thought about the Doctor. Me didn't expect Clara to ever stop missing him; they had been a formidable, deeply entwined pair.

“You know what, you're right.” Clara's expression changed to a cocky grin, something that Me found much more familiar. “Let's stay and figure out what the hell is watching us.” They began to walk through the grass again, but they didn't get very far.

From out of nowhere, a phaser beam shot at the two of them, barely missing Clara and grazing her hair. Instead of screaming, Clara laughed, and began to run, tugging Me along behind her. Me felt the thrill of adrenaline course through her veins, although it disturbed her a bit that Clara was so _gleeful_ about this. Even Ashildr had had a good sense of danger, long ago.

“Looks like we're under attack!” Clara said between breaths as they ran, and Me nodded, wondering why Clara was stating the obvious. Clara turned to yell behind them. “Come and get us, then! Or can you catch us - “

Clara's voice was cut off by a scream as a phaser beam shot directly through her head. She immediately collapsed, and Me barely caught her before she hit the ground. Driven by pure panic, Me tried to pick Clara up to try and run back to the TARDIS. As she watched, though, Clara didn't seem to be bleeding, although she could see the grass through the hole in Clara's head.

She hefted Clara up over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, her entire body tense and waiting for the next shot. It didn't come, however, to her bewilderment. She still didn't see their assailant, so she took the opportunity to run as quickly as she could while carrying another person, intent on getting back to the TARDIS.

Me remained unscathed all the way to the TARDIS, and she didn't hear a single phaser shot after the one that had hit Clara. She had thought that maybe they had set off some automatic alarm system, but it would have targeted her too, and not just Clara. She set Clara down on the TARDIS floor, steering the TARDIS into space so they would be safe. Her ability to feel had retreated again, leaving Me with a panicked sense of numbness. Clara hadn't stirred the entire time Me had carried her, and Me didn't even want to think about the possibility of Clara being dead.

She couldn't be dead, though. Time would be breaking around them by now, so Me waited. She had always been good at that, very well practiced. After what seemed like hours, the hole in Clara's head began to close up, and finally, Clara's eyes opened. Me knew that Clara's body was on a time loop, but she hadn't known it could heal itself, just like her own body could.

“We're back in the TARDIS?” Clara looked around, confused, and she frowned when she saw Me's face, which was a disturbed, ghostly white.

“Yes. I thought you had been killed, and I carried you back here.” Me tried to keep her voice calm, but she knew it was probably evident how rattled she was. Clara reached her hand up to her forehead where she had been shot, and then scrambled upward, looking at her reflection in the TARDIS console.

“Not a _scratch_!” Clara's expression changed from alarm to delight, but this time, Clara's smile didn't make Me feel warm at all. “This is brilliant, I can't die!”

_You will, one day._ Those were the unsaid words between them, as they always would be. But for now, what Clara was saying was true.

“It's a bit of a mixed bag, not dying,” Me said, raising an eyebrow as she watched Clara, but Clara didn't seem to be anything less than thrilled. 

“I don't care, Ashildr." Clara grinned, spinning around the TARDIS console to get the TARDIS moving again. "I can do anything I want.” 


End file.
